bring

Hi - bought a 450h on Valentine's Day - thought I would pass along some nitpicks so far.

Why is the gas tank so small? It gets 50% better mileage than the VW Touareg it replaced, but I am stopping at gas stations just as frequently. Annoying.

Ever stop on a hill? It rolls backward if you take your foot off the brake. Never seen this before from an automatic transmission, but guessing it has to do with the engine shut-off technology? No big deal - was just surprised.

It has serious torque-steer when you step on it turning from a stop sign. I wish they designed it to send some power to the rear axle is those situations - balance it out a little.

So that's about it - can't say any of those things make me dislike the car or cause me to rethink my purchase. It looks awesome, inside and out. Drives great in the snow. My wife loves to drive it. I love all the extra safety features (rear-view camera, blind spot monitors, parking sensors). I also love that it is faster than the gas engine RX.

Droid13

I think it's a space issue, with the traction battery using up some room. My guess.

Press down a little harder on the brake pedal. You'll hear a beep or two, that is the hill hold system that will keep it from rolling backwards. You have to remember, this is not a conventional automatic transmission. There is no constant pressure from the engine pushing forward while stopped, just a little bit of e-juice to mimic that experience.

Agree, I think it should be more generous with power from the rear.

bring

I didn't realize that - thank you for the reply.

vlad_a

It does actually send power to the rear wheels, even when turning aggressively. Unfortunately, nowhere near enough to fight torque steer. You can see it animated in action on the fuel economy info screen. That too was one of my first impressions of the vehicle. Not a deal breaker - it is what it is. I attribute this to the wrong (wheel drive) platform being used for the RX from the very beginning.